The following is some great supplementary info to my sermon this past Sunday. There wasn't enough time to include everything I wanted to say but I've included it for you here. You can also listen to the full sermon online.
Sometimes we spend more time thinking of what’s wrong with the world than we do trying to fix it.
When life doesn’t go the way we think it should, we start yelling, we start blaming other people, we get discouraged and we might even get depressed.
It seems like there are so many people around us who are depressed, maybe even some of us here today are depressed.
Did you know that 9.5% of the population is clinically depressed? Did you know that there has recently been a 23% increase in depression among children? Or that preschoolers are the fastest growing market for antidepressants.
Experts would point at many different causes of depression from hereditary factors to broken relationships.
This may be so but one of the true underlying causes of depression is that people have lost sight of their mission, or never knew what their mission was.
The Purpose Driven Live by Pastor Rick Warren begins a statement helps us to wake up. It says, “It’s not about you.”
If you’re convinced that life is all about you and your happiness and what you deserve, then get ready for one disappointment after the next.
We all face disappointments and setbacks in life but our focus on the mission, or lack thereof affects how we deal with difficult situations.
The person who’s lost sight of the vision will say woe is me, and it may take them years to get over something. I know people who are bitter over something that happened 10 years ago and I wonder if they are ever going to get over it.
But if our focus is on the mission that God has given us, we will say, “yeah, this is hard but I’m going to walk by faith and God is going to get me through this because it’s not about me, it’s all about Him and His plan and for His glory.”
Matthew 16:24-26
“ 24Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save his life[h] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?”
We all have this desire, that our lives would be significant and would have meaning and purpose. Our mission gives us that.
You see, God has placed us all here on a mission. It’s no coincidence that you were born exactly where you were or you look the way you do, or have the skills and interests you do. It’s no coincidence that you are hear now, have the friends that you do, work where you’re currently employed…
This is all part of God’s plan for you. He has placed you on a mission.
So what is your mission?
Part of your mission is shared by all other Christians, while part of your mission is unique to you. We’re all called to reach lost people who don’t know Jesus and help them become fully devoted followers. It says so here in…
Matthew 28:19-20
“19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
The part that’s unique to you is how you go about doing this. We all know different people. We have different talents and spiritual gifts. We all have different past experiences with life and with God.
This is part of God’s design. He equips us uniquely so we can all reach different people.